How varied in strength are LoL professional teams? On the GosuGamers ranking the top 5 teams haven't changed in rank. (This could because there aren't as many games played.) Yet unlike Dota there's not a huge gap between the first place and the others. I've heard from Korean LoL players from my school that they mostly dominate the professional games. Is this true or bias? Also, how big of a thing is the big international competition of the year?
They're mostly equal. Of course there are some professional players that stand out (namely the Korean mid player Faker-senpai <3) but this is a team game and the measure of their ability reflects on who wins in the end. You can't really settle on a single team being the best because every team has their own strengths and playstyles. The Korean team did win last World Championships but it was the Taipei Assassins that won the previous one. Also, last year's champs were even bumped out of the Korean qualifiers so that's a thing. This year though a lot of new midlaners are rising up that I enjoy watching, Bjergsen is one who I've been following. He's from TSM :v
In general Korea is the strongest region. They pro league is extremely close and I would say all of the top 4 teams in it are about equal, with Ozone being the best right now. SKT has been struggling lately so it's going to be interesting to see how they do at allstars. They just got knocked out of NLB and a definitely on a downward swing. I don't know a ton about the Chinese scene outside of the games I have seen at the international tournaments, but the generally seem strong. NA and EU are about equal with both having good top teams, but the lower parts of EU are a lot stronger compared to NA. I am really excited for LMQ as I think they have the potential to really raise the quality of play in NA. For Allstars, I think OMG will win, SKT will get second, Fnatic will get third, TPA forth, and c9 last. I would put c9 third with Hai, but I don't think they can gel with a replacement before the tournament starts.
IFM pls dignitas in last they are bad but not col bad yea im salty coast lost, but really col is just not good enough at the lcs level - coast literally gave them two free victories for some reason. the entire lineup is very mediocre. westrice got crushed by zion every single game (once by mundo...rofl) brokenshard was only mildly better than the worst lcs jungler and is MAYBE at the level of snoopeh. pr0lly and robert are solid but i don't see them solid enough to really carry. bit like coast 2.0 except much weaker individually and a lot more erratic. there's a reason why they were first picked by cst. my lcs predictions otherwise: 1. c9 - by far the best chemistry, best teamwork, best toplaner, best jungler, most consistent mid and bot 2. clg - dependent on how solid their new top laner is going to be... zorozero would def make them second but i'm not convinced by a korean player just because of culture differences communications issue etc - dexter is just so good in the jungle right now and that's what will put them ahead once they get a top laner on dyrus's level 3. tsm - dependent on if xpecial plays, team chem issues get fixed. they're good and i think recent struggles is just patch adaptations maybe a bit of tilt from xpecial. not convinced they can sort it out 4. lmq - lmq is good because they work so well together. all are on the same page, their team isn't made up of chinese gods, but they play so well together it seems like it. they definitely can be t3 but it all depends on if they can consistently win 5. EG - i think it's the last split for the vets of EG and i feel they spring split has given them time to develop and figure stuff out. not surprised if they do poorly again but i think this time around they are much more prepared for the NA environment / time to mesh innox & pobelter 6. crs - finally got a real support, has the makings of a good team, but i'm just not impressed by voyboy mid. IWD can get pretty shaky too. teamwork isn't great either 7. dig - bot lane great, crumbzz is really good, depends on if mid situation gets sorted out... scarra is consistent but not what he once was. cruzer is probably one of worst top laners atm 8. col - see above the Korean scene is by far the best, their attitude towards the game is unparalleled and it shows at world events. china i think is overrated as it really is mainly a one team region which makes it stand out. i think iem katowice really showed how weak the other teams are atm. europe is really equal within the division, and i actually feel like a bunch of those teams have the potential esp. considering gambit is a b4 team and they finished t4 at katowice. it's just a matter of taking the jump and being able to beat the koreans. na is good at the top but the bottom teams are laughable making most games pretty boring to watch which is too bad. lmq is a good thing in that hopefully it will shake up the landscape and really improve the competitive scene as last split was fairly boring in terms of being quite predictable. southeast asia / GPL is very average and the best team is really nothing compared to other teams in the world right now. yea, tpa won s2 but i think that was more down to the incredible talent of that team rather than the strength of the region as a whole
I don't know that much about LoL but the fixed positions: i.e. 1-1-2 and jungle seem not as interesting as it could have been. Will it possibly change in future seasons or is it such a staple of LoL that you can't really change it? Also, is the competitive hero pool variable? Are the top teams with highly varied picks and strategies or do they mostly stick to a mainstream strategy depending on who is strong in a certain patch? Is it exciting to see niche picks? I'm also wondering how the roles, i.e. mid etc. extend into later on the game. Jungler seems quite boring if I had to do it every game (say, I was playing in a team environment), unless the jungler ganks a lot? Which doesn't seem to be the case, but I'm not sure. Referring back, does 2-1-2 or 2-1-1 jungle ever work (if both teams are playing seriously)?
Jungling is actually the most important role in the earlier part of the game. It's the backbone of the team as they have to provide gank pressure and have to secure objectives like the Dragon. It's one of the most stressful roles considering you have to gank a lot because being passive leaves room for your enemy jungler to roam and switch the tides of other lanes. Right now there is an observable meta for junglers due to Feral Flare. Ever since Season 3 the top meta was the trifecta of Mundo/Renekton/Shyv but it's starting to get more diverse.
set roles actually make things more interesting in terms of skill matchups between two players. the latest patch has made 4-0 lanes very common and people actually really seem to dislike it. you can always do lane swaps to get 2v1 lanes, but as contrary as it seems the sort of standard meta is actually pretty interesting, although you can always try out different combinations that's general what works champs are pretty variable, but there is ofc a meta. champions tend to fall in and out so usually at the top tier of play things get varied after a while esp. due to nerfs + buffs. every now and then you will see niche picks simply because it's hard for players to play against a champ you don't see often. down below, pretty much anything works, there is no such thing as a bad champ so as long as you understand the champ and get good with him/her. top lane + mid lane + ad carry are the "carry" champs, but junglers can do it too, although they are a more supportive role. the thing about jungler is that it has so much influence on the early game. since there is no physical laner you really are playing mind games with the opponent jungler, trying to put yourself in the best positions to get your team ahead. 2-1-1 jungle happens fairly frequently although no jungler is detrimental because you lost out on a lot of experience. 4-1-0 lanes are pretty common in the pro met though.
I'm really excited to see Link on C9. I think he was the best choice for a replacement for Hai. He has a very similar champion pool, so he should fit in fine. Hopefully they can integrate him in the team over the next week and C9LG can represent NA well at allstars.
LMG bandwagon too strong though. It's very upsetting that they nerfed my Lulu so hard. Lulu could win lane/bully so hard but she can't carry as hard as other midlaners like LeBlanc, so they decided to make her a lot more disappointing. Due to that I picked up Syndra and I'm doing pretty damn well, might even consider switching mains. I guess taking a break from using Assassin mids got me a bit too complacent and lazy form trying to carry :3
I have been playing league on and off for about six months now on the account Foruka. I started out playing Ziggs and Twisted Fate Mid, but after around level 20 or so I picked up ADC, and shortly thereafter Support. Now as a level 30 with 600 or so normal games, I main Vayne/ADC, and can play any role but top decently. I am currently in the process of leveling up a smurf to use for ranked play. I'll post thoughts on the state of LCS soon, but as a Vayne main, obligatory go CLG.
I am really surprised with C9's performance. I was expecting them to be fairly weak without Hai, but so far they have definitely seemed like the second best team in the tournament. If they can pull off a couple more good performances in the semi's, I can see them reaching the finals. Their main problem against SKT was the horrific level 1, so if they can avoid that, they might even be able to take a game off the koreans assuming SKT beats fnatic.
I felt bad for TPA because they just got pushed around so badly despite being the S2 WC. I've yet to watch all games though.
ifm how u feel about that dig pick now huh ??????? TPA season 2 is a completely different team then they are now so i don't expect them really to do that well ever again considering that team was a p. big anomaly
Would you guys be interested in making a fantasy league for the summer split? Also, I think DIG will get 5th now.
We are probably going to do the draft sometime around this time tomorrow. LMK if that works for you guys.
We are doing the draft for sure at 11:30 pm EST on Monday. Incon, Tyki, Stone, Croak, Jalmont, and I agreed to that, so hopefully it works for Email and DarkDiglett, because we are extending it until then for you so you can make it. Please lmk.
I should add that another option is that the 6 that are there do a 6 man league if you guys cant make it and we try to do the draft for the 8 at a time that is good for everyone.
Im really impressed with Milleniums performance this week. I was expecting to continue their bottom of the table ways, but I think they have a chance to make top 4 this split. Also I am pretty mad at myself for starting Ackerman over Kevin, but we still haven't seen LMQ's performance so it might still be for the best.
I think he just had an off week. He is still one of the best toplaners in EU, but does seem to go through some rough patches occasionally. The good thing about Soaz is the fact that he likes to play more carry oriented champions, so when he is on he should be getting a lot more points.
The more i watch the NA LCS scene the more i start loving the team of compLexity. Early in the split I discarded them as a poor team that was just fodder for the upper once but lately they've been having amazing games that would come extremely close to base races with the silliest of plays from them. They even got the reputation as the Blue turtle shell because they just sniped Dignitas once again with amazing plays from pr0lly and ROBERTxLEE. I do hope they make it to the worlds because the team is just always so jolly and fun to watch (especially in interviews). More related to the game, Yasuo is getting nerfed in our incoming patch and Manamune is getting bonus true damage on hit (as seen on PBE)
legit have never won a game vs competent Yasuo very rarely do I see them mid, though always top #scaredofthekat idek why I quote a post a month old, but still relevant imo
Yasuo is part of my autobans because fighting one is always an inconvenience. Depending on who I pick, I usually ban Yasuo / Morgana / Ziggs. If I support I usually pick Thresh or Zyra and I want to make sure Morgana is banned because in the late game 1 bind = instant death. I can usually leave Ziggs open if I mid because I counterpick them with Syndra or Fizz. Yasuo is just Yasuo. OP as fuck. Anyways, do you guys ban anyone out automatically if you get cap? Before I used to always ban j4 because ganks from him were death.
the cataclysms are real Yasuo is usually an auto for me If I play mid with Kat, I'll push for heimer bans because that is the most annoying shit ever. Outside of that, nah.
I never ban Yasuo because I am the asshole that loves to play him. Lately I have been banning Maokai, Morgana, and Lee Sin. Fuck Lee Sin and Maokai and Morgana are both ridiculous right now so they need to go.
Morgana has been ridiculous for a while now. Rito pls. Before the recent nerfs, Gragas was an autoban for me. I can't stand his kit. He's tanky as hell, has insane mobility, good cc and damage output, a healing passive, aa steroid, and the list goes on. Also, Kass is still on my list for autobans as well.